Make Nashville Safe for Immigrant Families

UPDATE: This proposed ordinance was withdrawn from consideration on July 6, 2017.

With reports of raids and mass deportations escalating, immigrant families in Nashville have grown increasingly fearful. Everyday activities — from sending a child to school or driving to work to accessing critical services or calling the police — could put their families at risk. But more and more cities nationwide are fighting back.

The Nashville Metro Council is currently considering Ordinance BL-739, which would place reasonable limits on how the city will respond to voluntary immigration enforcement requests and allocate local resources to do the federal government’s work.

While existing state and federal laws require local compliance with federal immigration law, Immigration and Customs Enforcement often relies on voluntary and largely unfunded collaboration from local entities to carry out mass deportations in communities.

By drawing a bright line between the work of our city government and federal immigration enforcement agencies, BL-739 sends a message that local law enforcement is not a pipeline to deportation. When immigrant communities trust local law enforcement, they are more likely to report crimes, bolstering public safety for the entire community.

BL-739 also protects the integrity of our local criminal justice system. Holding people in jail without a warrant undermines our core value that everyone should be treated fairly in the justice system. This ordinance will help keep our jails, courts and probation offices free from entanglement with immigration enforcement and ensure that all Nashvillians have access to justice.

BL-739 draws a bright line between the work of our city government and federal immigration enforcement agencies by placing reasonable limits on how the city will respond to voluntary immigration enforcement requests, while remaining compliant with existing state and federal law.

This ordinance enhances public safety. When immigrant communities trust that local law enforcement is not a pipeline to deportation, they are more likely to report crimes, which makes the entire city safer.

BL-739 also protects the integrity of our local criminal justice system. Holding people in jail without a warrant undermines our core value that everyone should be treated fairly in the justice system. This ordinance will help keep our jails, courts and probation offices free from entanglement with immigration enforcement and ensure that all Nashvillians have access to justice.

Nashville should be investing in schools, transportation, and affordable housing, not spending taxpayer dollars to help ICE separate families and deport our neighbors.

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ACLU-TN is freedom’s watchdog, challenging government abuse of rights and fighting for fairness in our laws and their enforcement. We are dedicated to translating the guarantees of the Bill of Rights into reality for all Tennesseans.